A man who deputies say was beaten in a mob assault outside a Rock Hill nightclub last weekend stabbed another man when one of the assailants hit his son in the heat of the scuffle.

Deputies at about 2 a.m. Sunday were sent to the City Limits South nightclub on Riverview Road when they received calls about a large fight. By the time authorities arrived, the fight was over but they found a man, 49, lying on the ground beneath a fenced partition, according to a York County Sheriff’s report. While paramedics treated the man, who suffered injuries to his head, witnesses told deputies that someone had been stabbed during the scuffle and was loaded into a sports utility vehicle.

The victim’s son, 14, and another man, 22, told deputies they went to the nightclub to take the victim home, the report states. They saw several people fighting, including the victim, who they told deputies tried breaking up the dispute. Instead, several people began beating him. His son was hit in the head when he tried pulling his father away from the assault.

Club employees told deputies some of the people involved in the fight are affiliated with the York County chapter of Ruff Ryders, an organization of people who share common interests in motorcycles, show dogs and music, the report states. Employees also said the assault victim pulled out a knife and stabbed someone attacking his son.

Deputies learned Matthew Davis, one of the alleged “instigators” of the fight, had been arrested by Rock Hill Police and charged with public disorderly conduct once at Piedmont Medical Center. A police report claims Davis shouted profanities at deputies. Davis told The Herald he became angry when he learned a friend of his would be arrested. He admitted to yelling, but said he made a comment about “freedom of speech” when he was tackled to the ground.

The man who was stabbed, a Ruff Ryders member, told police he was unsure who stabbed him, but he did feel someone hit his ribcage. Once he was stabbed, his friends jumped in and began fighting with the alleged victim, police say. Members of Ruff Ryders did not start the dispute, but instead tried to stop it, said Sean Landham, a Ruff Ryders spokesman.

The alleged victim stabbed the Ruff Ryders member before the fight erupted, Landham said. Other members intervened, he said, “to stop him from stabbing other people.”

Another assault victim, 33, explained the fight started when someone threw water, the report states. He told deputies a man wearing a green-collared shirt punched him in his left eye --breaking his eyeglasses-- and then started kicking him once he fell to the ground. Witnesses identified William Efaw, 24, as the man who assaulted the man. Efaw, who matched the description the victim gave deputies, denied assaulting anyone, claiming he tried breaking up the fight. Deputies held Efaw in jail overnight and charged him with third-degree assault and battery and malicious injury to property on Monday. He was released from jail the same day on a more than $3,220 bond.